Thailand: There and Back Again: Part the First

(Sharing a "moment"... Don't mind us...)

So I never said anything about going to Thailand because I knew-- I just knew it wouldn't actually happen and then I'd be the lame girl who bragged about an upcoming trip that totally fell through. In any case, two weeks ago we got back from an 18 day trip overseas...

Our trip to Thailand started off well enough. We made it to Boise. We had everything in order. We got to the airport on time.

Unfortunately, I bleached my hair right before we went... Fifth Element-orange first, then anime-yellow. Anyway, so we were almost late to the airport because of the hair fiasco, but we made it there on time. Not that it did us any good.

We got to check-in, handed the lady our passports and about 20 seconds later she informed us that Derek wouldn't be allowed to board in San Francisco since his passport expires May 27th. But wait, isn't today March 30th? So what's the problem?

Yeah, for all those of you who don't know it, be forewarned: many (most?) Asian countries require travelers' passports to be valid for 6 months from the date of entry into their country, and many European countries require validity for 3 months.

Great, so our vacation's shot, right? We looked at a billion different options and were basically in full freak out mode for a day or so. We considered changing our destination, changing our travel dates, airlines, et cetera, et cetera. But it all hinged on whether Derek could get his passport renewed in that short amount of time. There are regional passport agencies all over, one in San Francisco, one in Denver, one in Seattle. San Fran was super busy, so our agent (who was amazing through all of this by the way. I'll back link to her if I ever find a link) got us a flight to Seattle early in the morning, (which allowed time for me to get my hair done... again) we went to the passport office at 9am, paid em $135 big ones and got Derek's passport by 2pm. Perfect. Unfortunately, I'd packed for Thailand and San Fran--- which meant shorts and flip flops and Seattle decided that sleet was the weather choice of the day. It was freezing.

(Derek and I at the Seattle Library. Super cool, this is where we hung out while it was sleeting outside.)

Anyway, blah blah blah, long plane ride the next day, we arrived in Bangkok 4 hours later than scheduled-- our dedicated travel companions waited the ENTIRE time for us.

First thing the next morning, Jordan & Josie introduced us to their favorite little restaurant on the street by our hotel.


It was a delicious intro to Thailand. Plus it cost like nothing. Like $1.50.


Breakfast as we know it doesn't really exist in Thailand. There's not really a differentiation between meals. Like you get the same things for breakfast as you would for lunch or dinner. Like rice or noodles with meat and veggies. Anyway. I like food pics. The above picture is a pepper sauce thingy you'd drizzle over stuff.



These little bananas are amazing, too. I love how you can just buy fruit at a bazillion different little stands over there, like little bags of pineapple for .20. Rad. I lost like 4 pounds while we over there, thanks to filling up on fruit.

(Too cool for school.
No... really.)

After breakfast, we walked down to this corner to Gulati Fashions (word on the street is this is THE place in Bangkok to get a suit tailored--- SUPPOSEDLY, several General Authorities get their suits made here.) to pick out fabrics for the boys and get them fitted.

(I had no idea you had so many options when it comes to pinstripes.)

(Derek looking hot-- deciding between fabrics)

This is one of the temples at the first site we stopped at. Only monks can enter this one. I can't even remember which one this is. Maybe a part of Ayutthaya? We went to so many freaking temples... they're ALL over the place there.


The grounds were really cool though, (same temple) all these bushes/shrubs cut into shapes. Jos and I LOVE elephants these days.

(Classic Derek molesting a reindeer shrubbery. I love this man.)

Ok, here's me: "Ooo, cool tree, I'm gonna go pretend I'm a peacock." Fast forward 15 seconds later and I'm frantically jumping around and brushing off 20 fire ants that decided to start chomping me...